I had finally made my way to the briefing room and sat waiting for General Hammond and Dr Frasier. The emblem on the wall drew my curiosity, so I stood and walked over to it for a closer look.

"Hmm...SGC." I said aloud. "Never heard of it."

"There's plenty of reasons why you haven't." A voice announced from behind me. I quickly turned around and saw General Hammond. I quickly saluted. "Second Lieutenant KanDo reporting for duty, Sir!"

"At ease, KanDo."

"Yes, Sir." I stood at ease.

"Why do you go by 'KanDo'?"

"It's a short form of my name and my work ethic. My last CO started using it and it stuck."

"What, pray tell, started that?" He waved to the table and chairs. "And please, sit down."

I did so. "Thank you, sir. It started when I reported for duty at my last post. My CO had received paperwork that listed my name by initials only. He thought it amusing when he saw my initials and that I've tried and handled everything that had been thrown my way. He said, 'Well, it looks like you KanDo everything.' He wondered why I didn't have a PhD in psychology yet."

"So why haven't you?" came a female voice. "Sorry I'm late sir." I turned to see who it was.

"Dr. Frasier," she announced and shook my hand.

"I wanted to get some real-life experience before I studied for my doctorate."

"In other words," Dr. Frasier started, "you needed to do your service time before you could finish your degree." She laughed. "That's how I got through med school."

Hammond gave a smile. "Now, let's get down to business. Your duties will include--"

He was cut off by the sound of a loud, blaring alarm that set the lights to flashing and a voice announcing: "Incoming travellers. Security to the gate room."

Through the windows came a flash of light and a loud 'whoosh' sound.

"What is that?" I asked, forgetting my rank in response to the sight before me, as I walked to the window.

"That," Hammond pointed, "is why you're here."

"SG-1's remote signal. Opening the iris now."

The iris opened and I saw a circle filled with what appeared to be water. But in a state that I had never before seen. I didn't think my eyes could've gotten any bigger, but they did as I watched people emerging from the 'liquid.'

The first two through were male. One with his arm in a sling, the other carried a small child in his arms. Then came a woman with blond hair that had a supporting arm around a pregnant woman. The final one through, was a tall, dark-skinned male.

"We could use a little help down here," came from the man with his arm in the sling.

Dr Frasier and General Hammond immediately turned to the stairs to go down to the gate room. I fell into step behind them.

"Colonel-- what's going on here?" Hammond asked as we entered the gate room.

"Well, sir, we ran into a little problem." The blond answered.

"Ya think, Carter?" came the sarcastic reply from the colonel.

"Sir, she's in labor. Do you think we can discuss this later?"

Hammond nodded and Dr. Frasier helped Carter to lead the woman to the Infirmary. The child began to cry and squirm, eager to get out of the arms of the man holding her.

"What's her name?" I asked the man holding her. And when he turned to me, I was captivated by incredible blue eyes. I found that I had to look away as he began to speak.

"Her name is Jo'nare'," he said over her sobs.

"May I hold her?"

He shrugged and said, "Sure, why not?"

I took her from his arms and cradled her to my shoulder. I began to hum a lullaby and she slowly stopped crying. The four men around us just stared on in silence.

"How did...?" asked 'blue eyes.'

"What can I say? I'm from a large family with lots of kids and babies."

I hummed a few more bars as Jo'nare started to squirm. I looked to Hammond. "Just another part of the nickname KanDo. If I may sir, I'll take her to the infirmary." He nodded consent and I started for the door.

When I was almost there, I heard the colonel call out,"So, you're new here right? You already know your way there? In this maze?" I turned to face him.

"Are you always this sarcastic, sir, or is it just something you do to welcome the new people?" I asked then turned back around and continued on my way singing a new lullaby.

Hammond laughed as the colonel stood there for a moment with his mouth gaping like that of a fish.

"Hey, Jack. Looks like you've got some competition."

"Can it, Daniel."

"What do you mean by this 'Can it' O'Neill?"

"Never mind, Teal'c. Who is she?"

"Second Lieutenant KanDo. Our new psychologist. Get used to her gentlemen, all SG teams will be talking to her on a regular basis. And if the need arises, she'll be going off-world as part of SG-12."

"But a psychologist? Geez, what is the Air Force coming to?"

"You know, Jack, with that attitude of yours.. It's no big surprise," Daniel snapped back.

"After debriefing, Daniel, you'll see her first."

Daniel raised his eyebrows. "Me? Uh-Wh-Why me?"

"As a civilian, you're not trained for a lot of the situations that can and do occur. She has the clearance necessary for you to speak to her about your experiences."

"What good is that going to do?" Jack asked, not feeling at all comfortable with this idea.

"It's so no hostility can build, which in turn, can affect the SG teams. We're doing something here that no one's ever done before. And if having a psychologist here helps just one person from going off the deep end -- then it's worth it. And O'Neill?"

"Yes, sir?"

"You're up after Daniel. Now go get that arm looked at."

"Yes, sir." He repeated as Hammond walked out of the room. "Man, I hate shrinks," Jack grumbled as he followed the General from the room.

"What are 'shrinks', Daniel Jackson?"

"They are people that deal with, well, psychology."

"What do they shrink?" he asked tilting his head in query.

"They don't shrink anything. It's just an expression."

"Then why are they called that?" Teal'c was like a dog with a bone on this one.

"Why don't you ask her about it when you talk to her. I'm sure she'll be happy to explain." Daniel headed for the door. "I'm going to go find her now. I'll see you later." And he ran into the door in his haste to get to the infirmary.

Daniel muttered a curse in ancient Egyptian as he rubbed the sore spot on his shoulder where he had run into the door. I wonder how many of them are laughing at me now. He shook his head. That had to be the most graceful exit they've ever seen. He wasn't sure why he thought that he had to run after her. General Hammond had pretty much informed him that his appointment was already set up to have a 'chat' with her. Maybe he sighed, I don't want Jack saying too much about me to the new lieutenant.

As Daniel neared the infirmary, he heard the sounds of voices arguing.

Naw.. It couldn't be.. Not already. A second later he heard, "Oh fer crying out loud!" from Jack.

Then, "I'm sorry sir, but just because I'm a female doesn't mean that I can't be your psychologist! I've never had a problem before, and one is not going to start now! I'll see you in two hours," from KanDo. Yep. It is. Daniel smiled at the thought.

Jack ran into Daniel at the doorway, and when he saw the smile on Daniel's face. He growled, "What're you looking at?" on his way past.

"Nothing," he replied, snorting out a barely suppressed laugh. "Absolutely nothing." Jack continued on with an aggravated wave of his hand.

As I stood staring at the door where Colonel O'Neill had just made his exit, I saw 'blue eyes' stick his head in.

"Is it safe to come in?" he asked.

I exhaled loudly. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason, really. But you had a look that could injure on your face. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't aimed at me," 'blue eyes' explained with a smile.

I relaxed a little. "No, not you." I smiled at him. "You know, I don't think that I caught your name. Or that of your other teammate."

"Teal'c," he mumbled.

"Hi, Teal'c." I started. "What an un--"

He cut me off. "Oh-no-My name is Dr. Jackson, Daniel Jackson. Teal'c is the --"

"Big guy with the gold," I circled my forehead, "thingy?"

Daniel grinned at me. "Yeah, that's him."

"So what brings you here? You're not hurt, are you?" I asked looking him up and down.

He blushed. "No. I'm fine. I-uh-I..." Daniel stuttered, then heard the cry of a baby. "She had her baby? How long ago?" He grabbed onto that topic. "And where's Jo'nare'?"

"Just now. And Jo'nare' is sleeping. She was pretty tuckered out and my singing helped her to fall asleep."

"Magic touch, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that." I turned to glance at the doors to the operating room where they had taken Sayrinda, Jo'nare's mother. "Shall we go and see how they're doing?"

"No, that's ok." He put his hands in his pockets "I just came by to ask where your office is. I thought that in an hour or so, we could get together, so that we could talk or whatever." He shrugged his shoulders. "Since you are here to-uhm- talk with us."

He's nervous. "My office is-- well that's a good question. I don't know yet. That's something that I need to ask of Dr Frasier. We got side-tracked before we could discuss that. Tell you what, meet me back here in an hour and we'll walk together to my office. How does that sound?" I smiled at him.

"Sounds good." He pulled out a hand and looked at his watch. "See you in an hour." He smiled, gave a small wave and turned to walk out the door. Unfortunately, he repeated his earlier move and ran into the door -- again.

"Are you ok?" I asked in concern.

"Yep, just fine. No problems." He muttered on his way out.

I watched him walk out then heard him say something in an odd language. And although I didn't understand a word of what he was saying, it sounded suspiciously like swearing. Shaking my head, I headed for the operating room to meet with Sayrinda and her new child. I also wanted to introduce myself to Carter... one of the few women I had seen on this base.

During the next hour, I spoke briefly with Major Samantha Carter and found her to be a very friendly person, someone to talk to and someone who would ease the transition to this base, where there were few female officers.

Sayrinda and her child were doing well. I found out that she had had a boy and his name would be Sho'nare, which in her language meant friend with many. This was to honor her new friends who had helped with his safe delivery.

Dr. Fraiser had just enough time to give me my office location, the files on Daniel and Colonel O'Neill, and a word of good luck, before she had to report to the debriefing.

After she had left, I sat down at her desk and opened Daniel's file first. I scanned over the entries quickly to familiarize myself with his medical background. In the last three years or so, I read that he managed to get into life threatening situations on a pretty regular basis. As I scanned over the entries in his file, I was amazed that he was still alive, let alone sane. He's got more lives than a cat. I thought dryly.

It was on the next to last entry that I found something interesting. The report was filed by a Dr. MacKenzie, a psychiatrist. His assessment and treatment was the standard approach - shoot the patient up with drugs and hope that everything turned out ok. It seemed as if this MacKenzie hadn't even tried to work things out. I shook my head. There was no telling what else Dr. MacKenzie might have done to Daniel. It seemed that SG-1's visit in the asylum happened at an opportune time. I had seen patients on the same treatment path that Daniel was on and it didn't always have such a pretty outcome. Daniel seemed to have dodged fate yet again.

As soon as I finished reading the last entry in Daniel's file, I glanced at my watch - five minutes until Daniel would be back to walk to our 'appointment.' Not enough time to read anything in Colonel O'Neill's file. Oh, well I thought. Guess I'll have to wing it. Wouldn't be the first time.

I closed Daniel's file and stood to stretch. After the long flight from Germany, with stopovers at two bases in between, I was more than ready for a nap. It was hard enough to think, let alone plan how I was going to handle a meeting with a new patient.

As I was reaching down to touch my toes, in walked someone who was definitely NOT Air Force. Old hiking boots and worn jeans were the things I noticed first. As I continued to pull up, I saw hands tucked into pockets, an untucked T-shirt, and finally Daniel's face.

"Hi there." He smiled as I straightened myself up. "Lose a contact or something?"

I was about to answer when he started laughing. "Sorry. Just trying to break the ice. Just, uh, doing some stretches, huh?"

"Yeah. I'm always tight after a flight. If I don't stretch out--" I yawned largely, then slapped a hand over my mouth in embarrassment. "Oh, I'm so sorry." I felt myself turn an interesting shade of crimson. "I'm sure you know how it is. No real sleep for two days...existing on catnaps and coffee."

"Yes. I know exactly how that is. And speaking of coffee, would you like some?"

"Would I like some? That has got to be the understatement of the year! I've made it one of my five food groups."

"Really? So which one did you decide to give up?" He asked giving me a lopsided grin.

"Vegetables, for the most part." I stepped over to the desk and picked up the files that I had been reading as well as a few others. "Do you know where I could get a cup of java? I could almost kill for some right now." I glanced at my watch. It only read 1300 hours, and I wanted to try and make it to 1800 before I fell asleep.

"I know of several places. Where's your office?"

"Up a level, office number 17431."

"Perfect. There's an officer's lounge two doors down from you that has a brand spanking new coffee maker."

"That sounds absolutely fantastic." I tilted my head towards the door. "Shall we?"

"Sure."

We left the Infirmary and headed to the staircase as it was closer and easier, rather than walking out of our way for the elevator. "So, how did this place start? Where did they find the 'Stargate'?" I asked using a general topic to get him talking.

"Didn't they brief you on all of this?"

"Not really. I haven't gotten that far in my assignment dossier." I shook the files in my hand. "Besides, I'd rather hear about it from someone with first hand knowledge. I'm more of a hands-on approach type of person. Written info is ok, but I like to jump in and experience things on occasion."

"Doesn't that get you into trouble?" I only glanced at him with a questioning look. "Well, I just know from my own experiences that it does." He gave a goofy grin.

"Good trouble or bad trouble?" I ask as we entered the lounge.

"There's a difference?" He seemed surprised that I would think like that.

"Yes." I smiled in memory. "Some of my best experiences stem from getting into 'trouble.' Of course, a couple of them were in direct violation of military protocol."

"And you haven't been kicked out yet?" He queried as we started brewing a fresh pot of coffee.

"Well, in my case that's not easily done. The Air Force and I have a contract of sorts. They still have the rights to two more years of my life. The worst they could do, short of a court martial, is to send me to some out of the way, backwards base and leave me there 'til I've finished my duty requirements."

"That's a very different attitude, compared to what I've seen around here."

"Well," I laughed. "A good sense of humor is a must in my job. I can't help it if said trait is 180 degrees from normal."

"Why did you pick the Air Force?"

"I love to fly." Picking up a disposable paper cup, I poured the first cup from the decanter. As Daniel poured his cup, I took a sip from mine. "Oh, yeah," I said in a husky voice. "That hits the spot." I blushed as the way I had vocalized that thought dawned on my poor brain.

"You...uh...Enjoy your coffee too, huh?"

As I snapped my jaw shut after having picked my chin up off the floor, I responded, "You could say that."

We exchanged glances as another Lieutenant walked into the lounge. "That's an interesting concept, Dr. Jackson. Shall we discuss it further in my office?"

"Yes. Good idea," he said and he picked up his cup. We then gave a goodbye salute with our cups to the Lieutenant and finished our journey to my new office.

The short walk was filled with silence. It was almost as if we weren't sure of what to expect once we stepped into my office and I became the 'shrink.' As I struggled to open the door while at the same time not spilling the precious coffee and not dropping the files, Daniel reached in past me to turn on the lights.

"Thank you." I said softly, as we stood close together in the doorway for a moment.

Daniel then went in ahead of me and took a look around the room. There were boxes everywhere--stacked three high in some places, five in others.

"So who's your decorator? 'Cause I tell you what--I love what you've done with the place."

I smiled in appreciation of his humor. "Thanks, I think. But not all of these are mine.... I hope." I added as an afterthought. I set the files and my cup on one of the few bare spots in the room--my desk. "Why don't you help me clear off a chair or two so that we can sit?"

He shrugged an okay and put his cup next to mine. We then moved enough boxes to have two empty chairs. We used the last couple of boxes to form a table of sorts.

"So the Stargate is a --what?--doorway to somewhere, right?" I asked as I picked up our cups, brought them over, and handed over his while thinking that this topic would get him talking again.

"Yeah. It creates a stable wormhole that allows you to travel to another planet."

"Another planet?" I asked in surprise and he nodded his head. "Who built it? Someone here on Earth? It looks like there's hieroglyphic writing on it." I was throwing questions at him left and right.

"No, it wasn't built by humans. But they are very similar to the glyphs found in Egypt, and elsewhere around the world."

"If we didn't build it, who did?" I asked with the dawning realization that this assignment was going to be anything but dull.

"A race called the "Ancient Ones." We've heard about them, but we haven't met them yet."

"How many of these gates exist?"

"Hundreds that we are aware of. There could possibly be a heck of a lot more."

"Wow." This is definitely not going to be dull. "Who figured out what it was and what it did?" I queried in reference to the Gate.

He blushed. "Uhm. That would be me." He answered and then took a swig of his coffee. "I should say I did the translating of the glyphs this last time around."

I held up a hand. "What do you mean by this time around?"

"Back in the forties, they experimented with the device. Eventually they managed to send someone through. But on the other side, the DHD was broken and he couldn't return. The people running the project thought that he had died, so they shut the whole thing down."

"And I take it he didn't die? And what is a DHD?"

"No, we found him in time to rescue him. And a DHD is what we call the device we use to dial up home from off-world. It's what you might call the original hardware. But when this gate was found, there wasn't one or it was damaged or well, Sam could tell you more. Including how we MacGuyvered a computer system to operate it." He took another drink from his cup. "And I'm probably boring you to death."

"No, you're not. I think this is very fascinating and I have a feeling that I'll have plenty of reading to do to understand how the Gate works."

"Talk with Sam--she'll be more than willing to help you understand everything technical about it."

"Ok. What about you? What's an anthropologist doing here? Other than the translating, that is." I asked, wanting to get him talking about his experiences.

"I started out as a consultant. Just another scientist." He began slowly. "I was brought in to translate the cover stone that was found with the ring." He looked down at his hands. "To find out what it all meant. And when we realized what we had found--a way to travel half-way across the galaxy--we had to be typical humans."

"What do you mean by typical humans?"

"Acting before thinking. Doing before knowing all there is to know about a situation." He said in a bitter voice still looking at his hands.

"What happened?" I asked as I leaned closer to him, trying to keep in eye contact with him.

"We really stuck our foot into it."

"In what manner?"

"The planet we found is called Abydos. It's an almost perfect replica of ancient Egypt--or at least the closest thing to it since a few thousand years ago."

"How is that possible? Did the life on that planet evolve the same as ours?"

"You could say that."

"What do you mean?"

"They are humans, descendants of the ancient Egyptians transported there by a race called the Goa'uld."

My eyebrow raised in query, just like Mr. Spock's did in Star Trek.

At my look Daniel filled in, "They're aliens that took over the roles of the Gods in various cultures around the world. Ra, Apophis, Nerti, Hathor, Kronos.......The list goes on." He fell silent.

Aliens? I think on that one for a few moments before responding. "Aliens? As in the little gray guys with big eyes that abduct people?"

"No."

I let out a relieved sigh.

"Those are the Asgaard, the good guys. The Goa'uld, the bad guys, are a parasitic race. That's why they look just like us How they managed to gain power over us."

I just sat there in silence while he told me this. I must have looked pretty dumbfounded, for he said, "It's ok. It took me a while to get used to it, too."

"It's not that." I paused and shook my head. "Ok, so maybe it is."

"It does seen a little overwhelming at first, but I'm sure you'll get used to it."

"So. Who's helping who here?" A snide voice interrupted us.

Without even turning to see the speaker, I knew that it was Colonel O'Neill. "Have you forgotten how to knock, sir.?"

"Nope. Just wanted to see how easy it was to sneak up on you. And I must say, it was pretty damned easy."

I stood and turned to face him. "Well, sir. Now that I know a little more about this place, you can rest assured that I'll be more vigilant in the future."

"I should hope so." He looked at Daniel. "Well, Daniel, give away any secrets today?"

"Jack," Daniel started. "She's already assigned to SG-12. It's not like she won't be informed about everything anyway."

"That doesn't mean she needed to hear about it from you."

I cleared my throat. "SHE has a name--if you recall, Colonel. And I prefer Lieutenant or KanDo, sir." I said smartly while thinking that the next hour ought to be interesting. Jack and I stared at each other in tense silence.

"Jack--KanDo--Come on guys. Do you need to keep biting each other's heads off? I mean, we're all adults here, aren't we?"

Jack silenced him with a glance. "Why don't you start your 48-hour leave, Daniel? Go study some...rock or artifact or whatever." He said with a wave of his good arm.

"But, Jack--"

"Ah-Ah--" Jack cut him off. "No arguments. Run along now, Danny-boy."

Daniel groaned in frustration and ran a hand through his hair. "Why do you have to be so difficult sometimes, I'll never know." He mumbled as he picked up his coffee cup and headed out the door.

And this time, he managed to make it through without creating a new sore spot.

The End... For Now

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